Fortune Favors The Brave
by Illeana Starbright
Summary: When her cover is blown by agents after another person Teresa Hunter is forced back on the run. Through her companion,an old friend of one of the Avengers team, she attracts the attention of the SHIELD and of a man more like herself than she could have guessed. Tony/Pepper, Thor/Jane, Clint/Natasha,Steve/Peggy, Bruce/OC
1. Chapter I Aware

_This is a part __of a series with one of my other stories ("Forged By Fire") but can be read as a stand alone. I own nothing but Teresa seeing as Annika is actually an alias for an already established girl. The song for this chapter is the_ "James Bond Theme"

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**Fortune Favors The Brave**

_Chapter I: Aware_

Her feet, snugly held in battered Adidas sneakers probably a couple years more worn than they should have been, smacked on the packed dirt of the road. It was a fight to keep her breathing level and her heartbeat steady. Her mouth was dry as the Sahara. On the outside she looked like a native, tan skin and dark eyes, except for the flame red hair tucked snugly under a worn baseball cap. She was young, between twenty-two and twenty-five, with smooth curves. Her body was all muscle with no extra fat. Her name was Teresa but her parents, both avid readers, had fancifully shortened it to Tink after Tinker Bell. Her older sisters, twins, had been Arwen and Eowyn. Both had died along with her parents.

Teresa turned the corner and, in a smooth motion, slid into an alley. Her body remained completely still. Heat tugged at her skin, something dangerous struggling to break free, but she pushed it down. She gritted her teeth and glared at the outside street. _There they were._ Her eyes narrowed. _Agents_. Were they here for her of the woman she had been living with for the past four months? Both were on the run from past experiences but if Teresa were the betting kind she would be inclined to place her money on her roommate. She waited until they had faded back into the crowd before heading for the apartment.

Annika Berger was fairly tall, brunette, beautiful, and probably could have been a model or actress. Instead she had informed Teresa that she had joined the military, stolen a precious government secret not long after World War II ended, and had been on the run ever since. Teresa wasn't inclined to believe the story since Annika didn't look a day over twenty-five but she let it go. If Annika wanted to keep secrets Teresa wouldn't stop her. "Tink?" Annika asked in her British accent when Teresa threw open the door. "Is something wrong?"

"There are agents here," Teresa informed her in a low voice. "I think they're looking for you." It was a credit to Annika's character that she didn't question her roommate. Instead she stood, snapping her laptop shut and slipping it into a bag that she slung over her shoulder. Meanwhile Teresa pulled a handgun, loaded of course, out from under one of the couch cushions.

"Good luck Tink," Annika said, taking the gun from her, and then headed for the back door. Teresa didn't waste any time on pointless good-byes. Instead she worked to eliminate any trace that Annika had ever been there. Mail with Annika's name on it and the few pictures with her in them were burned in the kitchen sink. Smoke drifted out open windows and ashes were washed down the drain. The extra toothbrush was dumped in a trashbag in the alley and extra clothes were spread through several others. Teresa was just sitting down for a refreshing cup of tea when someone banged on the door.

Teresa froze on instinct, her mind going blank for a moment. No one banged on a door unless it was the police, agents, or the nosy old lady next door. "Open up," someone demanded. "We have a warrant for the arrest of Annika Berger. Open up!"

"All right, all right," Teresa snapped, hoping her voice wasn't shaking. "I'm coming." She forced herself to stand and stomp to the door even though she was quaking inside. She flung open the door to be shoved aside.

"Search the house," a man barked. They did and Teresa let out several cries of protest as they tossed things about.

"You're wrecking my apartment," she all but shrieked.

"_You're _apartment," the leader said skeptically.

"Yes mine," Teresa snapped. "Whose else did you think it was?"

"Annika Berger's," the man said. "Her name is on the door plate downstairs."

"Because the landlord never comes in," Teresa complained. That was actually true. Teresa had officially taken over the apartment a month and a half ago when Annika had supposedly moved out and the landlord had never changed the name downstairs. "Annika was the _last_ resident."

"Are you sure she isn't a roommate?" the man asked.

"Why would I want a roommate?" Teresa scoffed back. The man nodded slightly as if this made sense.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot here," he said. "I'm Agent David Link from the United States FBI. We've been looking for Annika for almost forty years, thus our urgency today when we thought we had a break."

"Teresa Hunter," Teresa replied, shaking his hand. "I guess I can understand that Agent Link."

"David please," the man replied.

"Hey," someone else cried. "Come look at this David."

"If you'll excuse me," David said politely.

"Of course," Teresa replied. "But if it's my underwear he's looking at please smack him." David chuckled and headed off toward the other man. A few moments later he was back with a picture and his face grim.

"Miss Hunter do you know this person?" he asked. Teresa glanced at the picture and suddenly felt the dread of realizing she had forgotten something. She opened her mouth to deny knowledge anyway when the agent interrupted her. "Forget it," he said. "Arrest Miss Hunter and sweep the apartment." Teresa mouth went dry but her eyes blazed with anger.

"Wrong move," she snapped and then kicked out at his head. He fell to the ground with a cry as Teresa flipped the man behind her over her head and on top of him. The rest closed in and Teresa's eyes blazed gold.


	2. Chapter II Alert

_Thanks to _JamesoftheMeadow _for reviewing the last chapter! I own nothing but Teresa. The song for this chapter is _The Avengers _from, you guessed it, _The Avengers Soundtrack. _Alerts;_ purple-passionate, aquarae, JamesoftheMeadow, anifreakazoid, TheMostRandomOfRandomWriters, Nikki Morgan, _and _Of-Thieves-And-Liars. _Favorites; _aquarae, JamesoftheMeadow, Nerdified Elf, anifreakazoid, _and _Avloth.

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**Fortune Favors The Brave**

_Chapter II: Alert_

Teresa woke up on the side of a road, head throbbing. She sat up slowly, every muscle aching, and glared at the darkening sky above her. She was in the middle of nowhere and it was going to rain. She stumbled to her feet, somewhere along the line she had lost her sneakers, and trudged down the road. Thunder grumbled above her head and a moment later lightning lit up the sky ahead of her. Then the sky released rain in buckets on her head. She was drenched instantly and the rain just kept coming.

She walked, mud slopping over her feet, until the clouds began to pull away and then rain slowed to a drizzle. Then she sank into the shelter of a rocky overhang. Her feet throbbed. When she looked at the soles they were dripping little spatters of blood on the ground below from tiny cuts. She groaned, her throat dry as sand. Then she closed her eyes, pushing aches and pains to the back of her mind, and tried to remember.

Sometimes, if she really strained herself, Teresa could remember life without the so called inner demon in her head. The process made everything before she was changed blurry and unfocused. So was the time when she was transformed. She had just closed her eyes and cleared her mind when she heard the whump of helicopter blades. _Crap._

She stood slowly, hoping the overhang would shield her for a time. Pressed against unfeeling rock she surveyed the land around her. There were trees but it was a good sprint ahead of her. Then, past the trees, there was nothing. Once she reached the trees she had no way of knowing if there was shelter beyond. Still with the helicopter floating lower every minute she didn't have any choice.

Teresa bolted, flat out sprinting toward the trees. The helicopter swooped so low that the air almost knocked her down but she kept going, making a flying leap into tree cover. She pressed her back against damp bark but didn't dare close her eyes in prayer. It was too dangerous not to look. The helicopter floated over head and then whumped away. Teresa let out a silent sigh of relief, pulling away from the tree bark. Now maybe she could get to a town a use her (questionable) Portuguese to find out what was going on.

The situation on the landed helicopter was silent. Nick Fury looked deep in thought, his one eye not concealed behind an eye patch closed. Natasha Romanov looked ready for action and frustrated. Dr. Bruce Banner still didn't understand why he was here. "I was afraid this was going to happen," Fury said, opening his eye.

"Afraid what was going to happen?" Natasha snapped. "That she was going to bolt the instant that she saw the helicopter and somehow outrun it?"

"Yes," Fury replied, stunning Natasha into temporary silence. "There's nothing for it then. Dr. Banner you're going to have to go down there and find her."

"What?" Natasha and Bruce asked at the exact same time. Both voices held incredulous shock. It wasn't that Natasha didn't think Bruce was capable of taking care of himself, she knew he was capable, it was that he had no idea what he was doing.

"Do you speak Portuguese?" Fury asked.

"Well no," Natasha replied. "But-" She trailed off, suddenly understanding.

"I need someone down there who can speak the language and befriend her," Fury explained to Banner. "I need someone no threatening."

"Non threatening," Banner said with a rueful smile. "That's me." He went to step off the helicopter anyway but Natasha's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Here," she said, handing him an olive colored backpack. "There are supplies in there; money, rations, bandages, a loaded handgun, and a cell phone to call us when you're ready." Banner nodded and stepped down on the ground. The helicopter rose smoothly into the sky.


	3. Chapter III Aversion

_Sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long! Thanks to Joma (and sorry I didn't update sooner!) and Chester-Grey (I'll try to make the chapters longer as I go!) for reviewing! Alerts; _TheOodhugger_, _MarvelGoddess, Souzou the Insane, Chester-Grey, StarJynx, articlynx, Gwen luvs dramione, Rubber and Glue, MarauderElm22151, GlassxXxHeart, Lady-Kiki-Theevilmastermind, courtney212, Orphelia-Rose, anipotter13, _and_ NeonGirl14. _Favorites;_ Sayuri-Yuuko _and_ Orphelia-Rose

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**Fortune Favors The Brave**

_Chapter III: Aversion_

If at all possible Teresa avoided attracting attention. She hated anything that drew eyes toward her so limping into a town on torn feet wasn't high on her list. Still it needed to be done and it was better sooner rather than later. A few heads turned to look at her but when she offered them smiles they turned away, unworried. Most probably thought she had stepped on a sharp stone. Not everyone in a small town such as this had shoes anyway and most of the children didn't bother with them. In her faulty Portuguese she procured a room to stay for the night and had just finished cleaning and bandaging her feet when she saw him.

He was taller than her with dark curls and an almost embarrassed smile when one of the local young women approached him. Teresa rolled her eyes but couldn't stop a faint grin from crossing her face. There was one everywhere; a woman who always needed the attention of the opposite sex. She turned her attention away to check the bandages on her feet one last time. "Você precisa de ajuda?" The sudden question startled her. The translation, once her brain caught up, startled her even more.

"Não, obrigado," she declined politely, looking up to see the dark haired man.

"Você fala Inglês?" Teresa almost laughed at the comment. Did she speak English? A lot better than she spoke Portuguese. He was luck he'd stuck with mostly common sentences so far and spoken at a normal pace instead of the ninety mile an hour one everyone seemed to enjoy.

"Melhor do que Português," she replied and he grinned, a smile that lit up his eyes. Even Teresa who spent more of her time running than admiring members of the opposite sex had to admit he was handsome.

"I'm Bruce Banner," he said, offering his hand.

"Teresa Hunter," she replied, shaking his hand. She didn't see any reason to give him a fake one. Besides it would probably only trip her up later.

"Nice to meet you," he said. "Why don't we sit down before we continue though. I'd hate for you to kill your feet any further than you already have." Teresa rolled her eyes at that.

"I'm not sure that's possible," she said but allowed him to lead her to a chair, all the while ignoring the glare of the young woman who had approached Banner earlier. Banner laughed and sat down across from her.

"Do you want me to look at your feet? I am a doctor," Banner said. "I could help."

"No thank you," Teresa said, trying not to flush. Normally men didn't pay much attention to her so this much concerned attention on her made her feel embarrassed. Besides that Dr. Banner was handsome. "But thanks for the offer."

"At least let me help," he said. The offer surprised her even more than his initial attention to her and his offer to take a look at her injuries.

"Okay," she said after a moment, sure now that she was blushing slightly. He took the bandages from her and began patching up her feet.

"Honestly I'm glad you speak English," he told her as he worked. "It's been a while since I've spoken Portuguese and I'm a little rusty."

"You're still probably better than me," Teresa said with an embarrassed laugh. "I can do French just fine and English perfectly but any other language and I have problems." Banner laughed, flashing another brilliant smile at her before rebandaging her feet.

"I can do Portuguese and Spanish along with English but not French," he replied. "So where are you from anyway?"

The question was innocent enough but Teresa had to force herself not to stiffen up. "Tampa, Florida actually," she said with a suddenly forced smile. "Go figure." Banner smiled at her, the same open smile he'd given her before.

"I would have pegged you for a native. That's why I started with the Portuguese." Teresa laughed, her smile becoming less forced.

"My mother was Portuguese," she explained. "That's where I got the looks from." Banner nodded and then looked toward the building with a sigh.

"I guess I'd better dust off my questionable Portuguese if I want to get a room for the night."

"Probably," Teresa said, watching him head over to the owner of the building. Very casually, eyes still fixed on Banner's back as he spoke to the woman, she drew the backpack he'd left on the ground over to her, waiting until he had entered the hostel before opening it to search inside.


End file.
